Dampening device

ABSTRACT

Dampening device ( 1 ) for a Dozer blade ( 10 ) and related earthwork equipment ( 100 ); the blade ( 10 ) being carried by a frame ( 102 ) of the equipment ( 100 ) through the interposition of an actuating unit ( 106 ) suitable to adjust the vertical position of the blade ( 10 ); an axial-symmetrical member ( 11 ) being carried by the frame ( 102 ) to dampen oscillations associated, in use, to the forward movement of the blade ( 10 ).

The present invention relates to a dampening device for earthwork equipment. In particular, the present invention relates to a dampening device for earthwork equipment provided with a Dozer blade. In more detail, the present invention relates to a dampening device for earthwork equipment provided with a Dozer blade to discharge to ground oscillations occurring during operation.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

In the field of operating machines equipped for earthwork and usable for excavations, land levelling or removal of material, the use of mechanical members called Dozer blades is well known. The Dozer blades are frontally delimited by a concave face having a cutting edge at the bottom and usually constant cross-section; they are provided with a particularly strong structure so as to be resistant to the stresses they are subjected to during work. Usually, the Dozer blades are carried by an equipment carried by the arm of a skid loader or a wheel loader, designed to adjust the height of the blades with respect to the ground, as well as the inclination of the respective concave face around an axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of the same blade and to a central vertical axis by means of hydraulic cylinders, whose axis is usually horizontal. For the sake of practicality, the term “earthwork equipment” will be used herein to indicate equipment comprising one of these blades, independently of the conformation of the machine/of the appendix with which it is coupled.

This equipment is usually carried (by the respective machines) frontally in a cantilevered manner, and is therefore subjected to significant bending loads that cause, in use, oscillations, the width of which depends on the asperities of the ground surface. Obviously, the oscillation width is affected by the entity of the loads acting onto the blade; it will be as greater as more the rests of the equipment are constrained on elastic supports. For this reason, the blade cutting edge is constantly in oscillatory motion, the distance thereof from the ground varying accordingly.

The vertical position of the cutting edge can be controlled either manually by the operator, or by a control device using self-levelling systems based on laser technology. Therefore, in this case it is necessary, before executing the work, to provide the work area with signalling devices that identify the work plane; moreover, the setting of these signalling devices fixed to the ground and of the detectors on-board of the operating machine or earthwork equipment, must be very accurate and periodically controlled during the execution of work, in order to avoid that, if the conditions change, the automatic functioning causes uneven surfaces or surfaces arranged according to lying planes that do not correspond to the actual needs.

In view of the above description it would be desirable to have available an oscillation damping device for a Dozer blade that, in addition to limiting and possibly overcoming the drawbacks of the prior art, defines a new standard for this kind of equipment and blades.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The present invention relates to a dampening device for earthwork equipment. In particular, the present invention relates to a dampening device for earthwork equipment provided with a Dozer blade. In more detail, the present invention relates to a dampening device for earthwork equipment provided with a Dozer blade to discharge to ground oscillations occurring during operation.

The object of the present invention is to provide a dampening device for a Dozer blade that is simple and economical to be constructed and produced.

According to the present invention a damping device for a Dozer blade is provided, whose main features will be described in at least one of the appended claims.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an earthwork equipment comprising a Dozer blade and the related damping device that is simple and economical to be constructed and produced.

According to the present invention an earthwork equipment is provided, whose main features will be described in at least one of the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Further characteristics and advantages of the damping device and the earthwork equipment comprising it according to the invention will be more apparent from the description below, set forth with reference to the attached drawings, that illustrate a non-limiting example of embodiment, where identical or corresponding parts are identified by the same reference numbers. In particular:

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a dampening device for earthwork equipment provided with a Dozer blade;

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a detail of FIG. 1, in enlarged scale;

FIG. 3 is a rotation of FIG. 2 around a vertical axis; and

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view from a rear viewpoint of FIG. 3, with some parts removed for the sake of clarity.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

In FIG. 1, number 100 indicates, as a whole, an earthwork equipment comprising a Dozer blade 10 and a dampening device 1 associated with the blade 10 to reduce oscillations occurring in the blade when in use, usually when the equipment 100 is used on bumpy surfaces, for example, even if without limitation, on areas adjacent to work sites or on areas with surface asperities or different load capacities. With reference to FIG. 1 again, the blade 10 has a longitudinal portion 12 delimited, at the bottom, by a rectilinear profile 120 arranged horizontally.

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the equipment 100 comprises a frame 102 so designed as to be connected to an end portion 20 of an arm 30 of an excavator, known and therefore not shown, by means of coupling members 40 carried by the frame 102 and stabilizing members, usually pins, known and therefore not shown, engaging holes 50 provided in the same coupling members 40 (FIG. 3). The frame 102 supports the blade 10 through the interposition of an actuating unit 106 (FIG. 4) having a support member 104 movable vertically through two respective side bushes 105, each of which is linearly coupled in a freely manner to a respective cylindrical slide guide 105′ by means of a hydraulic cylinder 107 suitable to adjust the vertical position of the blade 10. With reference to FIGS. 1, 3 and 4, the earthwork equipment 100 comprises an axial-symmetrical member 11 carried rotatable by the frame 102/by the support member 104 by means of brackets 101 at opposite side from the blade 10 with respect to the slide guides 105′. In particular, the axial-symmetrical member 11 comprises a cylindrical roller 11′ coupled to the support member 104 of the frame 102 in lowered position in a freely rotatable manner, so as to discharge, in use, oscillations of the blade 10 by means of rolling contact.

In case of particular uses of the equipment 100 described above, it could be useful to associate an actuating member to the roller 11′, this member being suitable to control the rotation thereof during the use of the blade 10. The roller 11′ has longitudinal extension similar to an extension of the frame 102 measured in a direction that is, in use, transverse to the forward direction of the blade 10.

For the sake of practicality, it might be useful to stress that the mount of the roller 11′ on the support member 104 is made in such a way that the position of the lower directrix of the roller 11′ coincides with the vertical position of the rectilinear profile 120 when the support member 104 (and the bushes 105) are in centred position with respect to the respective slide guide 105′. This respective position can be modified through the cylinder 107 so as to adapt the position of the blade 10/of the profile 120 to the actual needs.

The use of the earthwork equipment 100 and the related damping device 1 is clearly apparent from the description above and does not require further explanations. However, it should be useful to specify that the roller 11′ is usually coupled to the frame 102 through the brackets 101, with the axis arranged at a height sufficient to keep the same roller 11′ with its lower generatrix substantially at ground level with the equipment 100 at rest in slightly lowered position with respect to the rectilinear profile 120 of the blade 10. This allows the roller 11′ to act as a rest for the equipment 100 and, thus, to dampen the oscillations produced by the forward movement, discharging the oscillation energy to the ground, thus making the blade 10 move forwards producing, with its rectilinear profile 120, a substantially flat surface on the ground.

On the other hand, it is clearly apparent that modifications and variants can be done to the earthwork equipment 100 and the dampening device 1 described and illustrated herein, without however departing from the protective scope of the present invention.

In view of the above description, the use of the roller 1″ embodies an oscillation dampening device that can be validly used in association with a Dozer blade and that overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art, allowing to simplify the management of the machine carrying the equipment 100 through the respective arm 30 and avoiding the use of electronic control devices based on laser technology. Moreover, thanks to the designing simplicity and the corresponding inexpensiveness and practicality of use, it defines a new standard for these blades and the respective equipment. 

1. A damping device (1) for a Dozer blade (10) of an earthwork equipment (100); said blade (10) being carried by a frame (102) of said earthwork equipment (100) through the interposition of an actuating unit (106) suitable to adjust the vertical position of said blade (10); said device further comprising an axial-symmetrical member (11) carried by said frame (102) to dampen oscillations associated, in use, with the forward movement of said blade (10), characterized in that said axial-symmetrical member (11) comprises a roller (11′) carried rotatable by said frame (102) in lowered position so as to discharge to ground, in use, oscillations of said blade (10) by means of a rolling contact, and in that said roller (11′) has longitudinal extension similar to an extension of said frame (102) measured in a direction that is, in use, transverse to the forward direction of said blade (10).
 2. (canceled)
 3. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that said roller (11′) is carried by said frame (102) in a freely rotatable manner.
 4. (canceled)
 5. An earthwork equipment (100) for an excavator comprising a Dozer blade (10) and provided with a frame (102) supporting said blade (10) through the interposition of an actuating unit (106) suitable to adjust the vertical position of said blade (10); characterized by comprising a damping device according to claim 1 with an axial-symmetrical member (11) carried by said frame (102) to dampen oscillations associated, in use, with the forward movement of said blade (10).
 6. (canceled)
 7. Equipment according to claim 5, characterized in that said roller (11′) is carried by said frame (102) in a freely rotatable manner.
 8. (canceled)
 9. An earthwork equipment (100) for an excavator comprising a Dozer blade (10) and provided with a frame (102) supporting said blade (10) through the interposition of an actuating unit (106) suitable to adjust the vertical position of said blade (10); characterized by comprising a damping device according to claim 3 with an axial-symmetrical member (11) carried by said frame (102) to dampen oscillations associated, in use, with the forward movement of said blade (10). 